Monthly Archives: December 2008

The in basket: Patti Mitchell thinks there is something wrong
with the traffic detectors on the side streets crossing Highway 305
in Poulsbo and left turn pockets there.

The in-pavement detectors were cut during the lengthy widening
of 305 the past two years.

“Well, that work has been completed for several months and the
automatic signal system is either not activated or is totally out
of adjustment,” says Patti. “For example, one can spend what seems
like two minutes waiting to turn left off of 305
onto Liberty without one car ever going by on 305 either
way.”

She encounters the same delays on the side streets all along
that stretch, she said.

“I see people get frustrated all of the time and some even
proceed through a red light after waiting a long time without any
cross traffic.”

The out basket: Jim Johnstone and Don Anders of the state’s
Olympic Region signal shop say waits that long on Highway 305’s
side streets and left turn pockets in Poulsbo are entirely
possible, and the signal timing that results in those waits is
intentional.

The lights are coordinated with one another to move the maximum
amount of traffic through the city. “One of the most important
elements of this timing plan is to flush mainline traffic through
Poulsbo,” Jim said. “This is based upon input from the Poulsbo
City Council and their desire to coordinate the signals to maximize
mainline flow.”

“We warned them they’d see complaints on the side streets,”
added Don, but the council asked for the timing scheme that is in
place.

Jerry Moore, project engineer on the widening, says, “With the
exception of one side street loop at Hostmark, all of the detection
along (Highway) 305 through Poulsbo is operational and the signals
are operating as intended.

“The signals through Poulsbo are coordinated from 6:45 a.m.
until 7:00 p.m. weekdays and 11:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on
weekends,” he said, “and are operating a 120-second cycle length
during coordination.

“When the ferry offloads the 120 seconds is not always enough
for the traffic demand on the mainline and during non-ferry times
the 120 seconds can seem excessive because of the left turn and
side street delay,” he said.

Moving in and out of coordination to match ferry traffic pulses,
something they tried years ago, resulted in confusion and problems
when ferry arrivals were off schedule, Don said.

Outside the hours of coordination, the detectors will react to
waiting traffic on the side streets and turn pockets much more
quickly, he said.

A primer on signal coordination can be found on line at
www.wsdot.wa.gov. Fill in Signal Coordination in the search box.
Don also says he’ll be happy to show citizens around the signal
shop in Tumwater and explain what they do and how they do it. He’s
at (360) 357-2616.

The in basket: In the previous Road Warrior, Doug Bear of Kitsap
County Public Works discussed discussed the standing plowing
priorities during the recent long spell of ice and snow, priorities
described on the county’s Web site at
www.kitsapgov.com/pw/snowplow.htm.

I asked him to describe how the priorities are put into play
when the snow is on the roads.

The out basket: “Our crews began working around-the-clock
12-hour shifts at 11:00 p.m. December 13,” Doug said. “At the
beginning of each shift, crews meet with the supervisor or
assistant supervisor to discuss priorities for that shift. Plow
drivers are assigned a specific area and specific class of road to
sand and plow.

“They are in constant contact with the supervisor while they are
on the road. In addition we keep a direct line with CenCom and work
with them to identify urgent needs from law enforcement, fire and
rescue and other emergency responders.

“The plow drivers work on the particular class of road assigned
(primary, secondary, etc.) but do have some latitude to vary as
conditions warrant. If they see a particular need they radio the
supervisor or assistant supervisor (to) get permission to deviate
from the priority plowing plan. This was often the case working
with Puget Sound Energy to restore power to residents.”

The priority plowing plan “is developed with the help of law
enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency management (DEM), and other
emergency responders. The priority is given to lifeline routes, and
to those roads that move the highest volume of traffic,” he
said.

“Our crews worked very hard, gave up leave time, and spent
nights, weekends, and their Christmas holiday serving others. I’m
proud of the response.

As they did following the catastrophic rain storm of Dec. 3,
2007, they’ll be reviewing the response internally, and with
emergency providers to ask what could have been done better. “I
kept many emails and voice comments we are using to analyze our
response and refine our approach,” he said. That review may include
evaluation of which roads are designated primary routes and which
are not.

Doug also sounds a warning we all should heed.

“This was two weeks of challenges, but imagine a major
earthquake with roads damaged beyond repair for months, maybe even
years.

“Many residents called saying they had unique circumstances.
They have elderly in their neighborhood, they have doctor
appointments or surgery scheduled, they are out of medicine, or
can’t get to the store.

“Those situations are not unique at all. Most every neighborhood
has the same needs. Each of us need to consider our personal needs
and do what we can to prepare for what may happen.” Being sure to
know your neighbors, getting critical medications refilled for the
the longest possible duration and finding out what one’s heating
fuel provider can and can’t do in an emergency are good ideas, he
said

“While we all pay taxes and certainly are right to assume
government can help,” Doug said, “there are going to be times when
(it) can’t respond, or can’t respond as quickly as we would like.
Each of us needs to be ready to take steps to help ourselves in an
emergency. DEM has some great preparedness tips at their
website www.kitsapdem.org.”

The in basket: I can count on a prolonged snow and freeze to
generate questions and complaints about snow removal or the lack of
it.

Heidi Hottinger and Mike Dalgaard were two who wrote me the past
week. Heidi lives on Duesenberg Court on the Silverdale Ridgetop
and wondered why Ridgetop Boulevard was plowed several times by
county equipment, which hadn’t come to their cul-de-sac and others
in that area even once. Avante Drive, which feeds three of those
cul-de-sacs, also went unplowed.

“What about the considerable number of residential roads that
feed to Ridgetop?,” she asked. “In previous snow-years (even the
famous 1996 snow) we were plowed by the third day. What is the
‘grand plan’?”

Mike said Baby Doll Road in South Kitsap degenerated to two
frozen ruts “so deep you went where the ruts sent you and had
little or no control over the driving ‘line’ you wanted to take.”
He had some harsh words for road crews who didn’t make it
better.

The out basket: I agree with Merry Quy, whose letter to the
editor in Tuesday’s paper suggested gratitude, not criticism, of
road crews trying to make or keep the roads passable. You won’t
find me having a hard word for people working 12-hour shifts in
freezing, slippery conditions, even though you know some are more
motivated than others, as in any group of people.

Heidi got a lot of her questions answered after I referred her
to the county’s Snow Plan Web site
(www.kitsapgov.com/pw/snowplow.htm), which shows Ridgetop to be a
primary road, while Avante, its cul-de-sacs and (surprisingly) Baby
Doll are not. Primary roads get cleaned before lesser
ones.

Comparison to the 1996 storm, which capsized much of the Port
Orchard Marina, threatened the Warren Avenue Bridge and destroyed
Albertsons at Clare’s Marsh is instructive.

Heidi said she’d lived here for 14 years, so she doesn’t recall
the prolonged sieges of December 1990, November 1985 and others
that much more resembled what we just experienced.

Doug Bear, spokesman for Kitsap County Public Works, says, “The
‘96 storm dumped a large amount of snow at one time, followed by a
rapid warming. The impact was significant, but the snow and ice
portion of the event was much shorter lived than the recent
storm.

“Up to six separate fronts moved through since December 13 (this
time),” he said. “Each storm negated any progress we had made, and
moved our crews back to square one. We did get a brief break the
22nd and 23rd, which allowed us to get to some
secondary roads. But new snow the evening of the 23rd
and during the day on the 24th wiped out that
progress.”

He estimates that the county’s 24 large plows and auxiliary
equipment, like graders, moved 2.7 million cubic yards of snow from
the roads that were plowed.

“Plows run at 20-25 mph so you can see it takes some time get to
it all,” he added. The 12-hour shifts, which earn the truck drivers
overtime for anything over 40 hours in a week, are offset by
breakdowns, shift changes and runs back to the sand supply to
reload.

“We (also) dealt with sub-freezing weather daily for almost two
weeks,’ he said. “Most freezing weather doesn’t last here and we
usually warm above freezing during the day. That makes it much
easier to plow and requires less repeat sanding. During this
current storm, the constant sub-freezing temps made plowing on
primary roads more difficult, and delayed the move to (other)
roads.”

As for Baby Doll Road, it was like many others, including the
road he lives on in South Kitsap, Doug said. “Because these roads
were not plowed, once temperatures warmed and traffic traveled
them, they became rutted and in many places became essentially
roads with just two tracks through them.”

I asked how much latitude the drivers have in deciding what to
plow, and how the daily and minute-to minute decisions are made.
That will be the subject of the next Road Warrior.

The in basket:
Cpl. Bob Millard of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office made a
wholly unexpected comment at a coffee group a while back when the
conversation turned to the much-discussed rush-hour backup on
southbound Highway 3 approaching Highway 304 at the west end of
Bremerton.

He said all the
discussion of what’s legal or polite in moving over to the left
lane early or staying in the right lane until a merge is physically
necessary is theoretically settled long before a driver even
reaches the backup.

It’s way back
nearly to the Kitsap Way overpass, he said, where a sign says “Thru
Traffic Kept Left.” It’s a white sign with black lettering, which
makes it a regulatory sign as opposed to an advisory sign. Advisory
signs usually are yellow.

He’d never
stopped anyone for staying in the right lane and never expects to,
Bob said, but it would be theoretically possible.

I was
dumbfounded. Bob’s analysis seemed sound, but if true it would make
illegal any use of the right lane beyond the Loxie Eagans off-ramp,
the last chance to do anything EXCEPT go straight.

The same sign
is posted in the curve in Gorst as one heads to Bremerton, but it’s
past the point where anything but proceeding straight is
possible.

I asked the
intent and significance of those signs.

The out basket:
I wasn’t alone in my surprise. State Trooper Krista Hedstrom, my
source for WSP information, admitted she’d never even noticed the
sign until I asked. She said Bob Millard appeared to be correct,
based on the color of the sign, but that she couldn’t find anyone
in the local detachment who had ever enforced it.

But it turns
out not to be a regulatory sign despite its color. There is no
state law that makes ignoring it a violation, said Lisa Murdock of
the state Department of Transportation.

Steve Bennett,
traffic operations engineer for the state’s Olympic Region
elaborated. He said, “At one time black/white was also used for
informational signing, but that use is being phased
out.”

An example is
the recent conversion of the black/white Speed Zone Ahead signs,
the very essence of an advisory sign, to have a prominent yellow
component. The old signs are to be replaced between now and 2018,
and many already are.

The Keep Left
sign in Gorst is intended to create gaps in the outside lane
traffic for cars needing to merge as they enter on the on-ramp from
Belfair, he said.

Generally, he
said, drivers can used the following color coding to evaluate the
need to observe a highway sign:

Black/White –
regulatory (enforceable)

Blue –
Service Guidance (food, gas, lodging) and tourist info

Brown –
Recreational (mainly state parks)

Orange –
Temporary traffic control (work zones)

Yellow –
Warning (advisory)

Red – Stop or
Prohibition.

As for the
merge of highways 3 and 304, things are as they always have been,
with each driver free to choose whether to get over early or stay
in the right lane to reach the actual merge point.

The in basket: Tracy in Port Orchard, who didn’t leave her last
name, cut to the chase regarding the long-delayed new traffic
signal in downtown Port Orchard, which still isn’t operational, and
asked why the old lights were replaced at all. “It looks like
they’re adding a couple huge street lights there too,” she
added.

The out basket: Don Anders in the Olympic Region signal shop for
state highways, says, “The existing signal system is 50 years old,
the existing wood poles are in very poor condition, and we found
that to rebuild this system is very difficult because of the
existing seawall under the sidewalk.

“The city began a project to replace the street lights in this
corridor and it was discovered that the wood canopy over the
sidewalk and these poles supporting the signal were in very poor
condition. We then moved this signal system up the priority
list to address this need.” The new street lights are mounted atop
the signal poles.

In a past Road Warrior column, Don said that traffic detection
at the Bay Street-Sidney Avenue intersection, where the new signal
is located, will be restored when it is operational. The old lights
have been on timers since the repaving of Bay Street last
summer.

The in basket: Dan Godeke writes to say that he thinks the new
traffic signal at Highway 3 and Pioneer Way in North Kitsap has a
problem.

“I have been watching the detector loop on Pioneer Way,” he
said, “and found that it is not picking up cars consistently. It
will sometimes let only three cars go through the light before
turning yellow even when a long string of cars are waiting.

“What I have noticed is that if a long truck is one of the ones
going through, the light will quickly turn yellow and I think it is
because the loop is not detecting the high undercarriage of the
trailer. The other time I notice this is if several cars in a
row turn right, they miss going over the loop and again it thinks
no other cars are in line.

“Perhaps what is needed is another loop set back about 50 feet
or so that it will see cars still in line waiting when one of the
above happens.” Dan suggested.

The out basket: Don Anders, head of the Olympic Region signal
shop for the state, says, “We will have a crew check this detection
system out, but we normally do not have trouble detecting
trucks.”

He said they may have to adjust the gap time, meaning the period
of time, often about three seconds, that tells a traffic signal’s
detectors that no more traffic is at the signal, prompting it to
turn the light red. They call it “gapping out.”

“It’s important that drivers always stay in the center of the
lane, this is the most sensitive area or detection zone,” Don
added. “Right turners will sometimes get off center and create
this gap out problem.

“On our signals we have advance loops (behind the stop bar
loops) on the mainline, but we do not have these on the side
road approaches. This is done for two reasons,” he said,
“first is the approach speeds are much slower, and second these
loops would be outside of our right of way and sometimes on private
property.”

I’m glad this came up, because I often see right turners
dawdle in the through lane before moving over, not getting to
the through lane detectors but keeping the traffic behind them from
getting there before the light gaps out.

Drivers unaware of the concept of gap time should be aware of it
as a courtesy to those behind them trying to make the light.

The in basket: Mile Hill Drive near Woods Road in the area in
which I live was treacherously icy Sunday morning, even though I
had seen one of the Kitsap County’s tanker trucks there Saturday
morning spraying the salt brine solution the county had introduced
to its arsenal of ice and snow fighters. By Monday morning, the
road was bare and dry.

I asked if the solution was living up to expectations.

The out basket: Doug Bear, spokesman for the county’s public
works, said he ” had quite the opposite experience,” finding the
roads near the Old Clifton Road church where he is directing a play
to be bare and dry most of the weekend. “Overall it was very
successful in most areas,” he said. “The key is having a period of
dry road to apply the brine before the freeze. Based on my
conversation with the road supervisors this morning salt-brine is
an effective tool to add to our snow and ice arsenal.

He took exception to a suggestion I had heard that reducing
cracked windshield claims against the county from the small rocks
in sand spread on the roads was a motivating factor in going to
brine.

“It seems a bit cynical to me to assume we would place damage
claims above road safety,” Doug said. . “We still use sand and
always will. There are many applications where sand is the best
tool to use. Salt brine is not a cure-all, and has its limits. It
does allow us to use less sand under certain circumstances, which
should, ultimately lead to less claims. “But it certainly isn’t
even a benefit we considered when we made the decision to use salt
brine. “We want to make roads as safe as possible in inclement
weather, and whether it is salt or sand, we will use whatever it
takes to reach that goal.

The brine solution did cut the amount of sand that would
otherwise have been needed on the county roads last weekend nearly
in half, he said.

Thursday’s heavy snow was another matter.

“The primary benefit the brine mixture offers is the ability to
keep snow and ice from adhering to road surfaces, rather than
melting snow. This helps keep roads clear in light snow, and helps
make plowing easier in heavier snow. Once you get past a couple of
inches of snow, cars compact whatever there is and that can inhibit
the ability of the salt brine to prevent adhesion to the road
surface. This results in the compact snow and ice on the roads
today.

” It does make plowing more efficient because the bond between
the compact snow and ice and the road is not as strong.”

The county expects it to remain effective with temperatures into
the teens and maybe single digits.

“We use salt brine the same way we use sand,” Doug said. “It’s
used first on hills, at intersections, around corners, in areas
that remain shaded most of the day, bridge decks, and known areas
that are prone to icing. It is also used, like sand, in other areas
as conditions warrant. We have three trucks equipped to distribute
salt brine, one for each road district. They follow the same
priorities described in the county’s snow plowing plan in choosing
where to spray.

The in basket: Sharon O’Hara, a frequent commenter on the Road
Warrior blog at kitsapsun.com, used the comment form to ask a
question.

“Why do school buses stop at the railroad crossing on Provost
Road in Central Kitsap?

“There is no stop sign there but yesterday I followed three
school buses and each in turn, came to a full and complete stop at
the crossing.”

The out basket: Another blog commenter who goes by Smoking Mouse
leaped in with an answer:

“The buses stop because it is required by law,” he said, even
including the text of RCW 46.61.350
“The driver of any motor vehicle carrying passengers for hire,
other than a passenger car, or of any school bus or private carrier
bus carrying any school child or other passenger, or of any vehicle
carrying explosive substances or flammable liquids as a cargo or
part of a cargo, before crossing at grade any track or tracks of a
railroad, shall stop such vehicle within fifty feet but not less
than fifteen feet from the nearest rail of such railroad and while
so stopped shall listen and look in both directions along such
track for any approaching train, and for signals indicating the
approach of a train and shall not proceed until he can do so
safely.

It also says the bus can’t change gears while crossing the
tracks.

Laura Nowland, acting transportation director for Central Kitsap
schools, says that law is expanded upon by the Washington
Administrative Code, which repeats much of the law and also
requires that noise on the school bus be kept down while
the driver checks for approaching trains .

There are exceptions which would allow the CK buses to not stop
at some of the district’s RR crossings, but Laura said it is
district policy that its school bus drivers stop and look at all
railroad crossings except two where traffic signals control the
crossing – on Newberry Hill and on Tresher Avenue on the Bangor
base.

The in basket: John Holbrook included me early this month in
forwarding an e-mail to about two dozen people warning of a bill
before the Legislature proposing steep additional license tab fees
that would be based on the size of a vehicle’s engine.

The additional fee, the e-mail said, would range from nothing
for vehicles with engines of 1.9 liters (115.9 cubic inches) or
less to $600 for those 8 liters (488.2 cubic inches) or more.

It was one of those e-mails that hang around in cyberspace and
crop up at intervals to alarm the populace. The bill (Senate Bill
6900) actually was before the 2008 Legislature and wasn’t
approved.

I wondered if its sponsors would take another run at it in the
2009 session.

The out basket: Absolutely not, said a staffer for prime sponsor
Sen. Rodney Tom from the east side of Lake Washington, letting a
letter Tom wrote Dec. 8 serve as elaboration.

The letter says Tom never intended the bill to pass. He said SB
6900’s purpose was “to merely start an important conversation we as
a society need to have regarding how we can reduce our adverse
environment impacts, while reducing our dependence on foreign oil
from an unstable region.

“My frustration stems from the auto companies’ fixation on every
car going zero to 60 in under 5 seconds,” he continued. “There are
a ton of clean burning diesels in Europe that are getting 50+ MPG.
The US auto manufacturers are locked into yesterday’s mentality
where they can make $10,000 off every SUV sold.”

The Big Three’s current travails seem not to have modified Tom’s
current position.

“All that said,” he concluded, “there was never any intention of
actually advancing SB 6900, which has stimulated the kind of
important conversation that I had hoped for.”

The in basket: Jenny Burke of Silverdale reported something very
odd about the intersection of Silverdale Way and Randall Way at the
north end of Silverdale.

Three times in a couple of months, she was stopped at a red
light heading north on Silverdale Way at night. When the light
changed to green, all the street lights at the intersection went
out, she said.

I asked if she looked back after proceeding to see if they had
come back on, but she hadn’t.

I was stumped by how such a thing could happen.

The out basket: Jeff Shea, traffic engineer for Kitsap County
Public Works, said the most likely explanation is that headlights
of cars starting up somehow caused the street light controller to
think it was daylight.

“We’ve noted that the photo cell that turns the street lights on
at night is positioned in a manner that traffic could impact it.,”
he said. “We will be changing the position of the cell in the near
future to preclude this from happening.”